


I'm In Love with a Fairytale

by mizufallsfromkumo



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Curses, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, Magic, Magic-Users, One Shot Collection, Told Out of Order, True Love, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-07-25 18:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7543318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizufallsfromkumo/pseuds/mizufallsfromkumo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judy was cursed to fall into a death like sleep on her 20th birthday.  The only thing that can break it is True Love's Kiss.  However Judy doesn't want to wait around for her True Love to kiss her awake, so she left home to try and do it on her own.  She is a trier after all.  She meet Nick along the way, and he stuck around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm in Love with a Fairytale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thought of kissing her crosses his mind. Like it always did at some point in the night, no matter how drunk or sober he is. He’s thought about kissing her in an attempt to wake her up and break the curse every night since he got there with her on the eve of her twentieth birthday.
> 
> However every night he shot it down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I made this a separate work, because reasons, so you all can bite me. I copied over the first chapter from More Than Yesterday, Less Than Tomorrow. If you've read it there, nothing has changed, so you can just go to chapter 2. 
> 
> Also it only took another week to get part two up, and I have a growing number of ideas for this AU blooming. Stay tuned for more.
> 
> Please note this story is not told in order.

He was drunk.

If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that.

He _knew_ he was drunk.

Not as drunk as some nights, and not as sober as others.  But he’s got enough of the local brew in his system to feel the world spin slightly as he stood, and wash down just enough inhibitions to consider himself drunk.  Even though tipsy might be the more correct term.

He was wondering too.

It was what he tended to do after leaving, or in some cases, when the rabbit barkeep had the courage to kick him out, the local tavern.  He ignored the whispers of passing locals as he would exited, or dusted himself off in some case.  An easy task to do after being a fox in a town full of bunnies, or living a life in a kingdom where everyone just saw him a shifty thief.   He always turned and walked off seemingly aimlessly into the night.

However he always ended up in same place.

And it was no surprise that was where Nick Wilde ended up yet again.

He sighed slightly as he stared at the small, simple, yet slightly elegant, structure before him.  Silently debating to go in or not, looking at the building for some sort of sign, some sort of answer.  Some reason to turn around and not go inside.  

But all he sees is octagonal wooden structure, hardly bigger than a large shed, with decorative copper and metal work.  The there is the wood carvings along the door and window frames that are in an ancient Leporidae that he could never hope to read.  Never a reason to run tail and find some bush to pass out in.

It was even harder knowing what was inside.  Or rather who.  

Because he can’t stay away.  There was a pull, an urge just to see her that he can’t deny himself.  Like he’ll die if he doesn’t see her whenever he comes.

After all it’s been three months and he was still there in the bunny filled country town of Bunnyburrow.  He hasn’t been able to leave, something he cursed her everyday for.  Didn’t matter how much as some of the locals tried to drive him out towards at least the outskirts of town, he still stayed.  To be fair though most had stopped after learning he was the “fox that brought the Hopps’ girl home”.  

He couldn’t leave her.  Not when she was still “sleeping”, if that was even the correct term.

Nick always glanced over his shoulder.  Back at the relatively large farm house and surrounding lands, just in case.  In the dead of night though, the coast is usually clear.  Not to mention a fox’s night vision far surpasses that of any bunny. But he still does it, before walking through the doorway.  Carefully pushing the simple faded red cloth that acted as a door out of the way.

That night was no different.

The fox glanced behind him, no one was around for as far as he could see.  He turned, quickly dashing into the structure, letting the cloth fall back into place behind him.  The structure is one large room that is sparsely furnished.  Only a few flowing curtains and a bed on the far wall with a figure lying still.

Nick breath caught in his throat in a strangled gasp at the sight of her.  He doesn’t know why that happened every night, or more accurately every time he saw her in that bed.  

There she was Judith Larene Hopps.  The little bunny cursed by a pissed, distant relative to fall into a death like sleep when she reached 20.  The bunny so determined not to wait around for her one true love to kiss her and break the curse, so she left home to try on her own.  The grey rabbit that conned Nick into her into helping her after threatening to call back passing guard.  The rabbit never gave up and Nick for some reason wanted to see it through with her.  

Judy Hopps, the sly bunny that stole his heart without even knowing it.

The sight of her was always the same.  She was lying there, stiff, unmoving, yet still warm to the touch. The moonlight pooling in through the windows and falling over her delicately.  Flowers laid all around her by her hoard of younger siblings who raced in and out of the structure mindlessly every day.  A crown of local wildflowers on her head, that her mother replaced weekly.  Her paws resting gently on her unmoving stomach.

His claws tick against the wooden floor as he closed the distance to the side of her bed.

“Hey Carrots,”  He muttered down at Judy’s form on the bed.

The was no movement of any kind from her, not even a flicker of anything.  Nick wasn’t even sure she could hear him, but he still talks to her.  All on the off chance she might move or she could answer.

“I see it was an uneventful day for you too.”  He sighed glancing down at her.

The fox knew she had five suitors try to wake her that day, a low turn out from other days. Three bunny’s, a hare, and an arctic hare from a neighboring counties.  Nick had seen them crossing the lawn from the main house, and later being sent on their way by Judy’s parents. Only two of them looked angry, though Nick wasn’t sure way.  

He could never bring watch any suitors enter the little structure Judy was in.  It always seemed to hurt, so he looked away.  Usually at whatever little Hopps sibling was sitting with him under the shade, or some random bug fluttering in the distance, or the clouds if he was desperate.

But none of them were successful in waking Judy.

“As you can see, I’m still here.”  Nick added lightly, a very weak attempt at something of a joke.  “I think your parent’s have gotten use to me hanging around their yard during the day.”  Nick chuckled to himself.

Ever since Nick took Judy back home, he had always sat in the shade of the yard and watched.  Judy’s parents had never really shooed them away, out of respect for whatever relationship they had formed in their time together, but they had been wary of him.  For the first week, her father glared at him from the porch, and he always made sure his other children were mindful of where Nick was.

He doesn’t hold it against them, they were bunnies.  Noble country bunnies.  And Nick...well, Nick was some strange fox that appeared frantic on their doorstep with their daughter in his arms as her curse was taking hold.

However, Judy’s mother, did offer him tea early one morning.  It was after a particularly bad night of drinking, and wandering.  Nick had woken up in Judy’s structure and raced outside to hurl in a bush.  He turned to find the older gray female bunny blinking at him with cup in her hand.  A panic set in when he realized she must of caught sight of him leaving the structure.  But she offered him the cup, commented on how terrible he looked, before smiling at him oddly.  Briefly she sat with him as Nick drank the tea, chattering mostly to herself, before returning to the house.

After the tension and cautiousness seemed to fade away.

Mrs. Hopps would come to sit in the shade and chat with him from time to time, ask him of his time and adventures with Judy.  Sometimes the younger Hopps siblings join them, or the come up to Nick on their own accords with stories or to tell him about whatever flowers they picked for Judy.  Mr. Hopps stared at him from the porch from time to time, but mostly he would catch Nick’s eye as he showed suitors to the Judy’s little structure and blink at the fox.

“The Greys invited me over for dinner the other night.”  Nick continued, scratching at the back of his neck.  “I declined.  Not exactly sure why.”

The wind swept through the room, ruffling the curtains and the flowers.  However, Judy again didn’t move as always.

Nick signed, leaning over Judy’s form.  Laying a paw on the other side of the bed, over her body, being mindful of some of the flowers there.  Carefully, he hesitantly brought up his other paw to touch at her chin.  Sweeping on his fingers along her face.

“When are you going to wake up, Judy?  Hmm?”  He asked heavily.

The fox looked down at her still face.  He’d do anything just to see the violet color of her eyes one more time.  Or hear her laugh at some quick comment he made.  Or just have one last late night talk, where they talked about anything and everything, with her over a campfire.  Or simply just to see her move, to roll over or twitch like she sometimes did in her sleep.

“How much longer are you going to make me wait around?”  He questioned, shifting to lean in just a little bit closer.  “Okay, maybe it’s not all in your control, but I don’t know much much more I can take.  Why can’t you just wake up?  For me at least?”

Nick smiled weakly down at the sleeping bunny, and sighed.  He knew that wasn’t how it worked.  He’s been through this enough to know, Judy just doesn’t making snap out of because he asked, or begged, or bargained with the powers that be.  She’ll only wake up when her true love kisses her and they were taking their sweet time getting there.

“You stole my heart right out from under me, Carrots.”  He continued softly.  “And I can’t take it back, because I want you to have it, even if I never get yours.”  He caressed her cheek, rubbing lightly at the soft fur there. “I love you, Judy Hopps.”

It was the first time he ever said that though.  Nick smile down at Judy, didn’t matter if there was no reaction of her, in fact in future he would probably come to appreciate that.  He said it, and for the moment that was all that really mattered.

The fox glanced down at Judy’s lips.  

The thought of kissing her crosses his mind.  Like it always did at some point in the night, no matter how drunk or sober he is.  He’s thought about kissing her in an attempt to wake her up and break the curse every night since he got there with her on the eve of her twentieth birthday.

However every night he shot it down.

Didn’t matter how much he dreamed about it, and boy did he dream about it, or how ever many times Judy told him it never really hurt to just try.  He could never bring himself to do it.  Mostly because he knew it would never work.  Not so much because he was a fox and she was a bunny.  

But simply because he was him, and she was something far more perfect.

There was no way in the world he would ever be her true love.  No way, fate would ever put someone like her with someone like him.  No, fate would put her with someone more noble, someone more gentle, someone more open and optimistic than he could ever hope to be.  He didn’t need his kiss failing to break a curse to tell him that.  He didn’t want that proof.

However, whenever Judy did wake up, he would tell her did try.  Because he knows she would ask.  She had tried to ask him when he was racing to get her home be he stopped her.  He’d let her think he tried, so she could live her life with whoever wake her up and let him fade back into the background.

Yet, he’s so tired of waiting.  So tired of having those dreams.  So tired of watching others try.  So tired of her mother looking at him so sadly, her siblings asking her when he’s going to kiss her, and her father looking confused at him.  So tired of just wanting to kiss her.

And the scenario was switched, Judy would try.  She would try without second thought, or fear.  She would just do it, didn’t matter if she failed.

So maybe he owns her the same.

Nick felt himself lean down more, with little room for thought, other than it was probably the only chance he would ever get.  

He felt their lips meet, and his eyes slid close.  He gripped at the sheets on the bed, and tightened the hold on her cheek just slightly.  His eyes slid close, and his whole body relax.  Breathing in the smell of an assortment of wildflowers, and crisp grass.  Savoring that moment as much as he could.

He pulled away slowly, looking down at Judy.  

She doesn’t move one bit. Didn’t gasp awake, or have her eyes snap open like in she sometimes did in her dreams.  There was no magical wave the rippled through.  Nothing about her changed.  Which Nick expected, but there is still a part of him that is crushed under the fact.

He straightened up sharply.  His limbs falling weakly to his side, and his let his ears drop against the back of his head, as he mentally kicks himself.  Taking a breath to collect himself, he turned and started walking towards the cloth door.

The breeze picked up as he was halfway across the room, rushing through the curtains.  Filling the room with the sound of rustling fabric, which Nick ignores.  He’s too busy debating if he should head back to the tavern to drown himself in alcohol, or just leave town, or both.

“Nick?”  Judy’s voice suddenly sounded, cutting through everything like a knife.

Nick stopped dead in his tracks, a coldness washing over him at the sound.  His breathing picked up into a pant, and he prays that he’s not hearing things.  He swallowed loudly as he slowly turned to look behind him.  

His eyes widen at the sight of Judy sitting up on the bed.  

The grey bunny was leaning on one arm, no doubt the one she used to push herself up.  A smile grew on her lips as she stared at him, like she just knew.  Like she knew it was going to be him.  No trace of relief or shock as she gazed at him lovingly.  

Meanwhile Nick isn’t even sure he can function correctly he’s so shocked.

“Oh Nick,”  Judy beamed at him, as she moved to get off the bed.  “You did it!  I had a feeling you’d help me break the curse when I meet you.” She continued as she hopped off the bed.

Her knees gave out sharply the moment she put her weight on them. Her limbs are still to slow and heavy from the curse to help her stop herself.  Nick raced across the door, catching the bunny just before she flopped right on her face.

“Careful,”  He said to her hoarsely, and she straightened herself up.

“Alright, standing up after being under a curse, not a good idea. Noted.”  Judy said with a giggle as she turned to Nick, who is still staring at her so widely.  “Thanks, Nick.”  She breathed happily at him, reaching up to touch his right cheek.

“You’re awake,”  Nick observed dumbly.  His eyes searching her for any sigh this might be a dream and he’s passed out drunk on her floor.

“All thanks you, slick,”  Judy returned easily as she smiled at him.

Nick’s word get caught in his throat at the words.  Suddenly he’s aware of the weight on his arm, and feel of her paw on his cheek.  And her smile, and her violet eyes looking up at him.  It all just sort of hits him.

He kissed her again, cupping the back of her head in his paw and kissing her like his life depended on it.  She hummed lightly and wrapped her arms around her neck.  He pulled away just as quickly as he kissed her.

“You’re awake.”  He stated again slowly, “because I kissed you.”

“That’s how it’s usually suppose to work.”  Judy said easily, her smile from before hardly fading.  But then it fell, her ears dropped, and she blinked up at him.  “Nick, you’re crying?”  She said shocked, as her paw wiped at his cheek.  Nick suddenly realizes he is crying, and there’s no stopping it.  “What’s wrong? Nick?”

He suddenly engulfed her in a sharp hug.  Burying his face in the crook of her neck as he tears started to turn into sobbing.  His tail wagging furiously behind him.  He’s just so shocked and happy, that his emotions weren’t exactly sure what to do.

“I kissed you, and now you’re awake!”  He muttered excitedly between them.  “Then that means…!”

“Yes, Nick,”  Judy said so easily, laughter bubbling at the end of her words.  “You’re my true love, slick.  Congratulations.”

A quiet fell on them, filled only with Nick’s occasional emotional sobs, or Judy’s gentle giggle as he held her.  Judy petted at his fur as she held him right back.  Neither of them wanting to let go any time soon.  

Eventually Nick felt himself start to come down from his emotional peak.  He pulled back slightly from the hug.  Judy still looking at him with a loving grin she just can’t seem to completely wipe off her lips and a few tears of her own in her eyes.  Nick quickly wipes them away, and she giggles and does the same to him.

Nick’s ears dropped, and he glanced down at the floor and away from Judy.  “Sorry I waited so long, I didn’t think--”

Judy hushed him softly, moving his snout to look at her.  A completely gentle look to her face as she grinned at him.  “Trust me, it doesn’t matter at all.”  Nick felt his lips pull up slightly at the words.  “All that matters is I’m awake, and you’re here...looking terrible.”

“Hey!”

“Dumb fox, what have you been doing?”

“Drinking every night and sleeping little.”  Nick answered with a shrug.  “Like I was trying to say, I didn’t think someone like me could be your true love”

“That’s a horrible excuse.”  Judy said so easily, before peppering his face with kisses.  “You need rest ASAP.  First though, I think I can walk now, so come on let’s go see my family.”

The bunny said springing up the fox’s arms, easily able to support herself on her own.  She patted down her dress, and smiled before taking steps towards the door.

“Wait, Judy?”  Nick called, just barely catching her by her wrist.  She turned to him quickly, blinking at him.  “I love you.”

“I love you too,”  She returned so genuinely, moving to give Nick on last little kiss.  “Now hurry up.”  She added yanking him towards the door.

Nick more than happily followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, chapter two is new. But if you're reading it for the first time, I hope you enjoyed and there is probably more to come, I'm just not exactly sure when.


	2. Even Though it Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie Hopps expected a lot of things in life. She did not expect a panicked fox to turn up at her door, in the late evening hours one night with her cursed daughter, Judy, in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! Another chapter! 
> 
> This goes into the idea of Judy's structure (because I have no clue what to call it) being charmed to only allow pure of heart in.

Bonnie Hopps expected a lot of things in life.

Like the roses in the garden to be red.  Or Mrs. Sheepton from just up the road to come around once week with whatever gossip she had collected.  Or the smell of freshly baked bread and pie to be lingering in the air about the town’s bakeries.  Or the harvest to come in the fall. Or for most of her children getting married and forming wardens of their own.

She did not expect a panicked fox to turn up at her door, in the late evening hours one night with her cursed daughter, Judy, in his arms.  

There had been a rattling and pounding at the door just before Bonnie was about to retire to their room.  Her husband, Stu answered the door to find a tall and thin fox staring down at him.  Wided eyes with panic and desperation as the curse was taking hold, Judy looking weak and weighted down in his arms. The fox was panting like he ran there non-stop from only fate knew where. His red fur damp from the rainstorms that had passed over hours ago.  He tried to say something to them, but everything died on his tongue, and he just looked down at Judy’s form helplessly.

The fox however fell out of focus when Bonnie had noticed Judy.  It was the eve of Judy’s 20th birthday, the day her curse would fully take hold, a fact the older bunny hadn’t forgotten.  Bonnie had just accepted her daughter would fall into its grasp far from home. And there she was.

In a moment, everything sprung into motion.  Both Bonnie and Stu reached to grab Judy, who was seemed half aware of everything happening.  They hurried her off to her room to prepare. Then hurriedly carried her to the safe resting place that had been constructed years ago.

 Had she been home they could have done this soon, there would be no sense of rush. But she wasn’t, she decided years ago to break the curse on her own and leave.

Bonnie stayed with Judy till the curse took hold completely.  Soothing her in moments of alertness, mostly filled with panic, and request or demands for someone named Nick.  They were usually followed with tears and emotional distraughtness as Judy stating “I need to tell him…I have to tell him, before--I have to tell him.”  Then a calm of unawareness before she could ever say what she wanted/needed to tell him.

It carried on for hours, until Judy just stopped.  Her eyes closed, and she stilled completely.  Bonnie kissed her daugher lightly on the forehead before exciting the structure solemnly. 

She did not expect to find the fox still there, standing off at a distance.  Seeming mindful of the fact that they were bunnies and he was a fox, as he stood there ears, shoulders, and tail hanging low.

* * *

Bonnie didn’t expect the fox to stay, either.

She perhaps understood the first few days he was there.  If he had found Judy on the street in a state, and been kind enough to see her home only to fall into a death like sleep, she could see it.  He might be concerned or confused at exactly what had happened.  

Or as Stu had grumbled, he was likely waiting for a payout of his deed.  One they were not going to give, and he would eventually get the idea and leave. 

But the fox never did.

And it wasn’t like he was ever in the way of anything.  For the most part he sat in the shade of a tree, and just watch suitors come and go. Sometimes it looked like he was napping at the base of the tree, only to jump awake.  He was mindful of the young kits, who Stu had warned to be aware of the fox where was.  But if one ever ventured just slightly too close then he seemed comfortable with he’d move.  And at dusk he would disappear, only to be there again in the morning. 

He went drinking at night, as Bonnie learned from Mrs. Sheepton on her weekly gossip trips.  After all he was the talk of the down, a new fox would not go unnoticed in Bunnyburrow.  Apparently he went to the tavern, and sat in at a corner table where only the barmaid bothered him by refilling his drink.  He hardly talked to anyone, just drank till he left or was forced out, and wandered off.  

The older rabbit noticed, the fox stuck around with sense of loyalty to Judy hanging in the air around him.  Like he’s just waiting for someone to wake her up, see that she was alright and happy, then he would leave.  Bonnie figured it he might be the Nick that Judy had been asking for. 

And out of respect for whatever had happened between the two on Judy’s personal quest, she let him stay.  She talked Stu out of constantly staring at him, to let the fox relax just a little bit.

* * *

Bonnie woke up earlier than usual one morning.  

It was something that happened occasionally, and something she never failed to take advantage off.  With an amount of kits numbering in the two hundreds, Bonnie was more than willing to take any peace and quiet she could get.

She left Stu snoring in the bed, and quickly changed into a simple dress for the day.  Carefully she stepped out their room, not wanting to disrupt any of the quiet in the house, and made her way downstairs.  She went straight to the kitchen.

Filling a kettle with water, she placed it on the stove to boil.   She grab the tea leaves from a nearby shelf, a leftover scone from the day before, and a plate while she waited for it boil.  

With a content sigh, she turned to take a moment to glance outside.  She pulling open the shutters just enough to see through.  It’s was still relatively dim out, the sun only just beginning to rise on one side of the sky.  The light just starting to reach Judy’s structure.The older rabbit glanced around, the back yard. 

She didn’t immediately see the fox,  _ Nick _ her mind corrected, as she looked out. 

However she didn’t think anything of it.  There was no doubt, Nick wouldn’t turn up, or materialize from some bush.  It was perhaps odd not to intually see the fox, but he had been there for weeks now, Bonnie had just come to expect to see him out in the lawn every morning.

The kettle whistled loudly behind her, causing the older rabbit to jump before she hurried to move it.  Carefully she placed the tea leaves inside, and let it sit for a few moment.  She placed two cups, sugar, creamer, and honey on a tray, as well as the tea pot, knowing at some point her peace would be ruined, and a second cup might spare her a few more.

Carefully she carried the tray outside onto the porch.  Setting it down on a small wooden table between two rocking chairs.  She listened as the birds were just starting to sing their morning songs, as she poured her tea and sat down.  She relished in the first sip.

She leaned back in the rocking chair, surveying the land behind the house.  Watching as the amount of light was starting to blossom, and colors of pinks and yellows were coming into the sky.

Again, she didn’t see Nick anywhere, but thought little of it again.  Too caught up in the small moment to herself to really care just exactly where the fox was.  

A gentle breeze swept through.  Bonnie hummed as it ruffled through her fur.  She closed her eyes and smile to herself.  Lifting her cup to her lips, she took another long sip of her tea and gave another content sigh as she opened her eyes.

The sight of a red fox hurriedly and clumsily stumbling out of the doorway of Judy’s structure greeted her.  There was brief curse, followed by the fox immediately running off to a nearby bush, leaning over, and the sound of him throwing up.

Bonnie blinked as she stared straight ahead.  

Completely in shock of what had just happened.  Not so much at the stumbling, cursing, and throwing up.  She had two hundred plus children, more than a few had come home from the tavern drunk out of their minds, and all of her kits had thrown up on her plenty of times.  But rather, it was the sight of the fox existing the structure.  That coupled with the fact that he had previously been inside.  

_ Drunk _ and inside the structure.

She turned to look at the fox, who's still throwing up in the bush in awe.

The structure had been charmed years ago, for Judy’s protection.  It was an ancient spell, that had been carved into the sill and moldings of all openings.  Meant to only allow those of pure hearts and good intentions in, or at least it had very high threshold. Those not of pure heart, or good intentions ran into an invisible wall.  There was no tricking it, or just pushing through, the spell either allowed you in or didn’t.  No matter how one tired to get in.

Not only had the fox been allowed access, he had been allowed access drunk, which the spell did not particularly allow.  It was something she never imagined a fox being able to do.  Nor could she imagine how pure Nick’s heart had to be to be let in.

Suddenly, she sprang into motion.  She quickly poured tea into the second cup, throwing in a spoon of sugar and a dash of honey.  Grabbing her dress, she hurriedly made her way towards the fox, as he seemed to finally be coming to end of his hurling.

As she neared, one of his ears flickered at the sound of her steps in the grass.  The fox groaned and spat, before turned to look at her.

It was the first time Bonnie ever really looked at him.  Even on the night he arrived, she never really took much of his appearance into much detail.  His clothes were rumbled, his faded green tunic wrinkled and hanging on him funny.  His light brown paints were the same.  This eyes were a bright in their color green, but exhausted in look, like he barely slept at all.  His fur stuck up at odd angles, and he’s thin in a terrible sense, rather than just being slim.

He blinked at her for a moment, before his eyes went wide, ears falling flat on his head.

“You look terrible.”  Bonnie said suddenly in a motherly tone.  “Tea?”

He glanced at the cup as Bonnie extended it out to him.  Then back at Bonnie, and back at the cup.

Bonnie nodded and nudged the cup in his direction with a cup.  She took a step towards him, she wasn’t cautious or afraid of him after seeing him exit the structure.  The older rabbit smiled warmly at him.

Eventually he did reach for the cup.  His paw completely engulfing it as he grabbed it.

“Thank you,” He said slowly.

It was the first thing he ever said to her.  His voice was not exactly what she expected.  It’s not deep, or gravely, or filled with some thick accent, or too overly smooth like she imagined.  Rather it was normal, save a little smoothness and graveliness mixed together, and the weight of some experience.

“You’re Nick, right?”  Bonnie asked.  The fox looked at her oddly as he drank from the cup.  “Judy mentioned someone named Nick a few times before the curse finally took hold.  You stuck around, so I figured.”

The fox’s eyes flicked away at the mention of Judy.  “Yes,” the fox answered heavily.  Like he didn’t exactly want it to be true.  “That’s me.”

Bonnie simply smiled at the fox for a moment, before moving to sit in the grass.  She patted at the space beside her.  The fox didn’t move from where he was standing.  Just kicked back the tea like it was something far harder.  When he finished, he glanced down in the cup, before snarling slightly and taking up the spot beside Bonnie.

“So how did Judy and you meet exactly?”  Bonnie asked gently.

Nick was quiet for a moment before he huffed loudly.  “She threatened to call the guards on me if I didn’t help her.”  He huffed with a flicker of smile on his lips.  “I stuck around for some reason.”

“Sounds like Judy.”  Bonnie chuckled just imagining it, her little bun bun getting a fox to help her.  

She breathed one last laugh before jumping into her own collection of stories of little Judy.  The fox humming and nodding occasionally as he seemed to half listen to her.

Hours had past before she finished talking to him and went back to the house.

* * *

“He’s still out there.”  Stu grumbled, as he peered out one of their windows and glared.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at her husband, hardly looking up from the book she was reading.  He was having one of his moments where he got worked up about Nick in their backyard.  While he no longer stared down the fox day in and day out, the buck was still overly cautious of the fox he didn’t know.  

Didn’t matter either that Bonnie told him Nick was Judy’s friend.  Or that the fox had literally never exactly given them a reason to mistrust him other than being fox.

“Relax, honey, he’s fine.”  Bonnie said easily.  

“It’s been a month and half, Bon!”  Stu ranted like that along was a valid point.  “And he’s still in our backyard just sitting there.  Doesn’t he have better things to go.  Like con some poor sole out of their money, trick someone into letting him have something.”  Stu huffed.  “All he does is sit there like some unnecessary guard.  Like what is he going to do that the charms won’t.” 

Bonnie sighed at her husband.

“The least he could do is get a room at the inn. Maybe then I’ll tolerate the sitting.  But no all he does is go to the tavern at night.  It’s the talk of the town.”

“Stu, he’s actually quite decent.”  Bonnie countered.  

“You know this from your little chats with him?”  Stu questioned.

“No, I know this after I saw him leave Judy’s chamber.”  Bonnie returned easily as she closed her book. She turned carefully to her husband to find him staring at her with his ears tall on his head.  No doubt trying to make sure he had heard her correctly.  “He stumbled right out, Stu.”

“He tricked the charm.”  Stu returned quickly.

“It’s an ancient charm, Stu.  There is no tricking it, or outsmarting it.”  Bonnie stated gently.  “One is either allowed in, or you’re not.”

“He’s a fox, Bonnie!  How else would he get in.”

“Cheese and Crackers, Stu, it might be old Leporidea magic, but it keeps those of impure hearts and intentions out, not foxes.”  Bonnie huffed rising for her seat chair, and moving to join her husband at the window.  “Species isn’t a factor in the charm, or magic.”

“I know, Bon-bon, it’s just…”  The excuse seemed to die on his tongue.  

He sighed and glanced down at the ground, his ears drooping before he looked back out at the yard.  Nick is sitting under the tree, as he did every other day.  Likely napping sitting up, as Bonnie had noticed he did, when she would talk or watch him more closely than before.  Though he could have possibly been watching the kits that were running around playing tag some yards in front of him.  It was hard to tell the difference sometimes.

“Do think he’s kissed her?”  Her husband asked after a moment, in a way that sounded like the thought just came to him, and he wasn’t exactly sure how to feel.

Bonnie had never really thought about it, not even after discovering he could enter. She had never even thought what Nick exactly did in Judy’s structure, aside from perhaps just getting sleep with a roof over his head.  She turned and looked back out at the fox.  

She hummed in thought for a moment, before shrugging.  “Would it matter?”

“He’s a fox.”

“But would it  _ really _ matter?”  Bonnie returned easily. “If Judy woke up because he, a fox, kissed her and broke the curse, would you really care about that?”

There was moment of silence between them.  The sounds of kits squealing happily outside coming through the window.  Stu gave Bonnie a look, like she didn’t answer his question, and she gave him one right back.

“No,” He finally with a huff.  

Bonnie smiled and patted her husband on the shoulder in a comforting manner.

* * *

“And  _ these _ protect against bad spirits.”  Samantha explained as she enthusiastically held a handful white heather in front of Nick’s face.  The fox hums and blinks as he patiently listened to her explain her flower collection for Judy’s bed.

Everyone had gotten far more comfortable around Nick.  After seeing their mother sit with him occasionally and talk, or attempt to hold a conversation with him.  Not mention, Stu no longer making a big deal out of knowing where he was.  The kits had grown bolder around Nick in the presence of their mother, and he seemed to humor most of their antics.

“And  _ this _ ,” she stated holding up a simple blue flower, “helps keeps bugs away.”

“Samantha!”  Bonnie snapped at her daugher.  “You know what your father says about those!”

“I know,” Samantha said cheerily with a shrug.  “But, I don’t think Judy would want to wake up covered in bugs.”  She added before collecting her flowers and scurrying off into the structure.

Nick breathed something of a laugh at the words.  It caused Bonnie to turn and look at him.  She found a shadow of a smile on his lips, and flicker of his tail as he watched the little brown bunny run off.  

Before she had the chance to injure, Nick jumped slightly and turned to look down to his left.  Where young, little Zane had waddled over and was tugging on the fraying sleeve of his tunic.  Completely stealing his mother’s chance at  _ something _ .

“Have you kissed Judy?”  the four-year old bunny asked blatantly the moment Nick turned to him.

The fox visibly stiffened for a moment.  Then, his whole body relaxed like nothing was ever wrong.  “No,”  He stated breezily, laced with heavy childish tones of ‘kissing givings you koodies’.

There was a undertones of sadness the Bonnie couldn’t help but noticed.

“Are you going to?”  Zane asked without missing a beat.

“Ugh…”  Nick fumbled, glancing away from Zane's big toddler eyes.  Only everyone else seemed to be leaning in for his answer.  He sighed heavily.  “No, I don’t think I will.”

“Why.”

“Well, Judy’s a rabbit, and I’m...a fox.”  Nick asked simply, like that was it.  For the kits that’s all it was, but Bonnie can almost hear all the other reason Nick was leaving unsaid. “I don’t think it would work out.”

Zane’s ears dropped, as did everyone else’s there.  

However the kits soon turn back to playing or jabbering about whatever was on their minds.  Completely obvious to the heavy sadness that was starting to fill the air between Nick and Bonnie. 

The two of them sitting in complete silence just staring.  Nick staring at the structure Judy was in, and Bonnie staring right at Nick.

And for some reason, the older rabbit remembered back to tarot card reading her mother insisted on doing when Judy was first cursed.

More specifically the card that come up in regards to Judy’s love; the King of Swords.

The image of a red fox, with a cocked crown casting a shadow over his face, with bloody sword across his lab, and a wound in his side.  A more than ominous image at the time.  But her mother had stated it meant someone clever, opinionated, protective, and guarded.  Slow to trust, but ever loyal when they did.  And perhaps never feeling like they belong in the role.

In that moment, it just kind of made sense.  Clear perfect sense.

Bonnie gasped as she realized it, before looking sadly at the fox. She turned away to watch her children as he turned to her.  She glanced at him occasionally from the side of her eye.

Nick was Judy’s true love, and there was a chance he would never break the curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a little iffy about how I feel about this, but I don't really care.
> 
> Not sure when the next chapter will be so bare with me.


	3. Coz I Don't Care if I Lose my Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s a standard misconception among other mammals, all foxes had the Gift, and it was all the same. And it was perhaps not all of Judy’s fault for not knowing that, so Nick doesn’t completely hold it against her. But it is just slightly annoying when everyone assumes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit. I've been busy and in just a mood to chill when I come home from more than anything. That and I've just been having issues writing as of late, it's not difficult, per say, I'm just not happy with how things are turning out.
> 
> Anyway, here is installment 3...everyone is a little OOC but like I don't know. This could be better...this could also be worse. I'm not going to fix it either way.

Ever since he was a small kit, Nicholas Wilde has always had dreams.

Dreams, that in varying amounts of clarity, details, and sense, have showed and told him about events to come.  Visions of his future while he slept, some might say, though he couldn’t often tell.  

Facts get jumbled, details get altered, and meanings are symbolized, but visions all the same.  The dreamscape took it’s own liberties, as his father once put it.  It’s not something any fox can just navigate or understand.  But things become clear, often times far too late.

Most of the time fact and fiction blurred, and Nick can barely tell a vision for a dream.  That was if he ever  _ did _ dream at all. 

In all his life, Nick only had one repetitive dream.

It came in various forms sometimes, different events, different situations, different objects.  The future is fluid according to his mother, and the dreamscape is a chaotic mess most of the time according to his father.  But the dream as constant repetitive elements.

Like severe lack of color.  Everything is a hue of grey, save Nick and the something purple, usually on a passing rabbit.  It’s always crowded with mammals moving here and there.  All of them staying out of his way.  And he always follows the purple on the rabbit.  Without fail, he always hurries after it.

It started when he was eight, and come round every so often each year.

Nick never made sense of it, but it wasn’t the first time that ever happened.  Not to mention he never really tried too.

* * *

Another failed attempt at breaking the curse.

It’s nothing new.  Honestly it was something they should have been use to by now.  With how many countless times they’ve experienced the same thing, they should be numb to it.  They should just expect it when they try anything and everything.  It would be the realistic thing to do.

The  _ sane _ thing to do.

If only that were the case.

Judy feels... _ way _ too much.  

Everything is worth trying to her.  Just to see.  On the off chance that it just might work.  Something might just break curse.  Without trying she’ll never know what works and what doesn’t.  Even if curses and magic are set in their rules, if there’s some unexplored loophole, she’ll find.  But she never does because curses and magic are set in their rules. 

And Nick...well Nick sympathizes...a lot more than he did in the beginning.

It’s a blow to Judy every time something doesn’t work.  She crumbles, and breaks, and sulks.  She mourns the failed attempt in heavy manner.  

Nick always let’s her do it.  He always picked her up, guided her along, and tended to things.  Always there for Judy.  He kept jokes and chatter to a minimum, gave her space, and let her have her time.  He was respectful fox like that.  After all he was complete jerk.

Judy never failed to bound right back to her overly-optimistic self, urging them on to some new adventure.  So Nick doesn’t exactly worry too much.

The latest attempt, through, was perhaps a stretch.  A big one.  

After visiting Judy’s aunt to cursed her, and having that lead absolutely nowhere, everything was a stretch.

So, no real surprise that the last attempt didn’t work either.  Some weasel with all-powerful potions reeked of a scam.  Only the weasel was a household name in the area, they did not all maybe knew the sorcerer was a weasel, and not exactly a half bad one to boot.  They tried but even the weasel had his reservations.

Though to Judy it’s almost like it’s the end of the world.  

The grey rabbit sulked under the heavy silence over the camp.  It was perhaps the worst Nick have even noticed to do be.  The nightly atmosphere did not help to lessen it any bit.  Nick was simply doing his best to just not be crushed underneath it.

It wasn’t going as well as he hoped.

“Nick?”  Judy’s voice started softly. Her voice cutting through the sound of distance crickets chirping and crackle of the fire.  Sadness still thick in her voice.

The fox hummed lightly in response.  He made no movement to move his arm from over his eyes as he laid on the ground.  An ear flicked in Judy’s general direction, and his tail moved slightly.  An indication he was listening to her if she were looking at him.

A beat of silence passed.

“Foxes can see the future, right?”  Judy asked gently.

“Yes,  _ some  _ foxes can.”  Nick corrected in return, with a shrug.  “The Gift of Sight, for those who have it, is different from fox to fox.” 

It’s a standard misconception among other mammals, all foxes had the Gift, and it was all the same. And it was perhaps not all of Judy’s fault for not knowing that, so Nick doesn’t completely hold it against her.  But it is just slightly annoying when everyone assumes.

Perhaps there was a time when all members of the fox species had a Gift, or shared in one singular Gift of Sight.  That time had long since passed. 

“Oh…”  Judy said weakly after a long moment. 

Nick sighed, lifting his arm to peek at his rabbit companion. Judy was sitting off to right.  Her legs pulled up to her chest and her ears lying limp against her back as she poked at the embers of the fire with a stick.  Her eyes seeming to look at the flickering flames without really seeing them.

“What is it, Carrots?”  He asked gently.

“Nothing, it doesn’t matter anymore.”  Judy breathed out.

With the huff, Nick pushed himself up into a seated position.  “Right,” Nick hummed in mock agreement, “and your curse clearly isn’t an issue after today.”

Judy glared at him sharply in return.  Nick couldn’t help the grin that formed on his lips at the sharpness in her violet eyes.  Hey eyes widened slightly at the sight of his grin before she turned away just as sharply.  Making Nick smile even more.  She knew he had her.

“Face it, Carrots, one way or another I’m going to figure it out.”  Nick added slyly.

Judy made a frustrated sound before she turned back to him.  “It doesn't’ matter anymore, Nick,” She turned heatedly, pointed and gesturing wildly with the stick in her paw.  “Because you can’t see the future like I thought...no  _ assumed _ , and I feel like a complete...idiot for thinking you could.  Or that it wo--.”

“Whoa, hey, who said anything about me not being able to see the future?”  Nick cut in quickly.

Judy just stopped, for a brief second, and looked at him like he grow three additional heads.  “You  _ just _ did!”  She snapped, poking at him with her fire stick.”

“No, I didn’t.”  Nick stated firmly.  He snatched the stick from her grin and tossed into the fire before she could poke out an eye or something.  “I said  _ some _ foxes could see the future, and everyone has a different Gift.  Not that I couldn’t see the future, fluff!”

“So you can see the future?”  Judy asked with a sudden surge of excitement.  Her ears stood at attention and she turned to him with wide, gleamingly, hopeful eyes.  She seemed barely managing containing her want to spring to her feet and possible tackle him in a hug.

The fox shrugged slightly while while titering his hand up and down in a so-so motion.  

“Nick!”  The rabbit exclaimed.

He couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up in his throat at her.  And he just seemed to laugh harder at her gaping expression.  

Judy groaned in frustration at him.  Her ears falling limp against her head.  She tossed her half eaten dinner, plate and all, at him, something Nick narrowly managed to dodge, before she curled up on herself again.

“Relax, Carrots,”  Nick said easily as his laughter subsided.  “I  _ can _ see the future, visions come to me in dreams.  Only the dreamscape is a... _ complicated _ jumbled mess.”  Nick shrugged at the words.  Shitshow was perhaps a more encompassing word.  “Most of the time I can’t tell the difference between vision or dream.  I hardly know I had a vision till after events have passed, so I don’t usually bring it up.”

Judy’s ears were at attention again, standing all on the top of her head as she looked at him.  Blinking with wonder and perhaps a spark of hope and excitement.

“So what doesn’t matter anymore?”  He asked with a grin.

Judy turned her glance away, looking at the flames in thought.  She scrunched her lips and her nose wiggled before she looked back at him and signed.

“I wanted to know if you’ve ever seen my curse being broken.”

“Ah,”  Nick nodded, turning his attention to the sky that was peeking through the treetops.  He did in an effort to hide his forming frown from her.  “Can’t say I’ve exactly see that.”

“It was a dumb question,” Judy breathed.  Her ears falling again and she curled up on herself, staring into the flames.  “Forget I said anything.”

“Just because I can’t say I have, doesn’t mean I haven’t seen it, Judy.”  Nick turned to look back down at her.  He leaned back on his paws with a growing sly grin on his lips.  “The dreamscape takes...liberties on details.  And that is putting it nicely.  You breaking your curse could been shown as you breaking a vase or something.”

“Are you saying you had a dream about me breaking something?”

“It’s an example, fluff.”  He said offhandedly.

“But you’ve seen something?”  Judy asked with growing excitement in her voice.

Nick contemplated telling her no.  His dreams or visions had not been much of anything.  Tree tops and rolling fields and him lying there weighed down.  Or creeping shadows on abandoned roads, which had lead Nick to venture off the beaten path in hopes of avoiding robbers. Or his father grinning at him widely from across a table, and an arrow at his feet, but that could honestly just be his father checking in.  And then of course, the colorless dream with the rabbit in purple, which for some reason had started to morph into Judy.  

There was no way he could confidently tell her if any of that meant anything.

Yet the hope was flooding back into Judy.  Along with the annoying optimism she sprouted every day that he had grown to cherish.  And Nick can’t bring himself to crush it, especially not now.

“I said possibly,”  He reiterated for her.

Judy beamed, her whole face splitting into the dumbest, more excited smiles Nick has ever witnessed.  In one swift movement she sprang up and hugged him.  All the while giggling happily, as she just about crushed his ribs.

“I’ll take it.”  She grinned out.  Hugging the fox tighter and practically vibrating with an excitement.

“Glad your feeling better, Carrots.”  Nick hummed warmly as he wrapped an arm around her and savored the moment.

* * *

_ The mountain side was far more uneven and rocky then Nick or Judy anticipated.  The path lost to landside or two...or seven over the years.  Nothing more than different size boulders and rocks along the mountain. _

_ Judy, of course, is the first to climb on them.  Barely even attempting to see if they’re stable, because she was so trusting of things.  Nick followed behind her, following in her steps as best he could.  The fox was quite sure the bunny was going to be the death of him.  But death by rock side was somewhat better, or at the very least more excited sounding, than dying in the street. _

_ It’s only when they reach a larger boulder that he took the lead.  Climbing the boulder with far more ease do his claws and height.  Reaching the top, he turned around, and offered Judy his paw to pull her up. _

_ That was when he saw them. _

_ The shadows.  Racing towards them like darting snakes right towards them.  Coming from just about every direction, closing in on them.  Closing in on Judy. _

_ Only Judy doesn’t see them at all. _

_ As she jumped up to grab his paw, they collided underneath her, becoming one.  Only to coil and mass out of the ground, reaching for Judy.  The shadow wrapped around her left foot, the horror grows on Judy’s face as she realizes what is happening.  It pulls down, while at the same time continuing to grow.  It formed a clawed paw of sorts.  Gipping Judy tightly around the torso. _

_ With one strong yank Judy is pulled out of Nick’s grip.  Nick called her name, and she screamed.  But it was lost, engulfed by the shadows as it swallowed Judy whole.  Only to disappear and spin out of existence. _

Nick woke up with a start.  He sat bolt upright as his heart beat quickly, and he panted in panic.  He turned to his right, where he see Judy’s sleeping form beside the dying fire embers.  

He relaxed, and laid back down.

* * *

Nick didn’t mention his dream to Judy.

He couldn’t think of a reason to, if there even was one.  Not to mention Judy wouldn’t let it go, at all, and it would probably become a thing, because he really does care about her.  Which Nick does, way more than she needs to know about, because she has a curse to break, and he’s...him.  Besides Judy was in a good mood. No need to ruin it with an I-saw-shadows-eat-you dream or whatever it was.  

But that doesn’t mean he can shake it.

Judy lead the way.  There was a definite spunk in her step, as she talked away excitedly about whatever came to her mind. She talked about how she heard wizard in the south who could break just about any curse for a price in the south.  Or a mystic flower with magical powers in the Marshes.  Or random stories about her family and their farm, or the town of Bunnyburrow.

Nick offered back his snarky comebacks, and light conversation.  Eventually the dream faded into the back of his mind.

That was until they reached a path that had been lost to about seven rockslides.

Judy let out a whistle at the sight, and Nick felt his throat go dry.

“You really have taken us off the beaten path, Slick.”  Judy giggled out.  She turned to beam at him with wide bright eyes.  She started towards the rock and boulder covered path.  “Come on, let’s go.”  

“Wait, Carrots!”  Nick shouted, amazed by his ability to use his voice, as he reached for the rabbit. He barely managed to grab her wrist.  She turned back and blinked at him in confusion.  “Maybe we should find another way.”

Judy rolled her eyes.  “What and backtrack four hours of walking?”

Nick nodded at the idea perhaps a little too eagerly.

“Seriously, Nick!”  Judy blinked at him, before snorting.  “We’re already here, and it looks pretty sturdy.” 

“Oh it’s very sturdy.”  Nick muttered back.  More to himself, but with Judy’s hearing she heard him.

“Than why not go over it.”  Judy challenged, tearing her wrist out of Nick’s paw.  “Unless, you’re scared…”

“Carrots, it’s not like…that.”

“Really?  Cause it kind of seems like you are.”

“Judy!”  Nick growled frustrated.  “It’s just--just...I…”  Nick isn’t sure how to put his shadow-eating-Judy dream into words without giving it away.  “It’s just...I have a bad feeling...sort of...maybe.  I can’t explain it.”

“What,”  Judy said with an odd expression, “does that even me--”

Judy just stops.  Like completely stops functioning.  Her eyes glossed over, and her whole expression goes blank. Then her whole body went limp and she crumples to the ground.  

Nick caught her instantly.  Worry hot in his throat as he realizes she wasn’t breathing, or anything.  He doesn’t hear the panic in his voice as he called her name, but he can feel it in fiber of his being as she shook her.

And then suddenly she came back.

The whole thing lasted maybe a half a minute.  It felt far longer.

She blinked up at Nick like nothing happen.  Like she didn’t just check out of life for a few moments to hang with fate.  She seems mildly confused as to why Nick was gripping her, perhaps a little too tight.

Nick is too relieved to do much of anything other than stare at her.

“Nick, why are you look at me like that?”  She asked cautiously after a moment.

“You just...stopped.”  Nick stated.

“Stopped what?”

“ _ Functioning.” _ Nick exclaimed.  

Judy blinked at him for a moment before realizing it what the fox ment.  She groaned at the words.  “Oh, Sweet Cheese and Crackers,”  She moaned as she buried her face in her paws. “She warned me this would happen, but I thought I had more time.”  

Nick couldn’t stop the whine that came from his throat before it was too late.  

The bunny peeked out from behind her paws and sighed. “The curse, it’s starting to take a effect.”  She stated like it a slight inconvenience to both of them. “There is still time to try a few more things to break it.”  Judy continued confidently, doing her best to push herself out of Nick’s arms, only to stop functioning all together again.

It was far far short then the first time.

“No, Carrots, I’m taking you home.”  Nick said when she came back again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, some info about Nick's Gift of Sight. He dreams of the future, but they aren't clear. (Yet, if I do a future fic for this, Nick will have "control" over it, or at least his dreams will be far more clearer). Oh and the dream of the Bunny with purple is the dreamscape telling Nick about Judy as his true love.
> 
> Now, here's some stuff I could fit or work into this fic in detail. Foxes are the only species to have the Gift of Sight, and there is a half-baked reason in my head as to why they have it. While other mammals call it "The Gift", foxes more accurately say "A Gift" because all Gifts of Sight are generally different, it often goes unnoticed in conversation with other mammals. Another thing, not all foxes have a Gift, and there is kind of stigma and tension against foxes who don't have Gifts. I'll have to go more into detail about this in later fics...if I can, so yeah.
> 
> Also I didn't get to put this in there cause of how Nick tells Judy (he was going to tell her another way where this would have gone, but I couldn't get to work so it was scrapped). Finnick sees, hears, and can talk to Nature Spirits. Nick's mother can see the future based on decisions she could possibly make. Nick's father can travel, and communicate to others in dreams (kind of including ghosts).
> 
> So yeah, I hopped you like. No idea when the next part of this is coming out.


End file.
